Exclusive: Unacademy’s Graphy set to acquire Build On Scenes

Edtech unicorn Unacademy’s Graphy is set to acquire community platform Build on Scenes, according to an email sent by the latter's co-founder Mohammad Usaid to its employees. This will be the first acquisition by the SoftBank-backed company in 2023.

“Scenes has been getting lots of attention from larger established companies in the education tools space and it is my great privilege to inform you that we are getting acquired by Graphy by Unacademy,” Usaid wrote in the email, a copy of which was reviewed by Entrackr.

The details of the transaction couldn’t be ascertained. Graphy's founder and CEO Sumit Jain confirmed the development via Twitter.

It is worth noting that Unacademy’s founders Gaurav Munjal and Roman Saini are already investors in Build on Scenes. In May 2021, the startup raised a pre-series A funding round from angels including Kunal Shah, Kalyan Krishnamurthy, Tanmay Bhat, Tanglin Ventures, Better Capital, Whiteboard Capital, iSeed Ventures, and Blume Founders Fund.

According to the email, the integration will help Scenes expand resources and expertise, and bring additional benefits such as access to educational content and collaborative opportunities.

In October 2021, Graphy acquired Noida-based edtech startup Spayee for $25 million. Graphy had become a part of the Unacademy group in June 2020. The platform allows users to explore stories, ideas, books and original content through video, audio, images, and quizzes.

Graphy also claimed that it turned operationally profitable last December.

Unacademy was on an acquisition spree during the 2020-21 period. However, the firm acquired only one startup (Gate Academy) in 2022. It has laid off several employees and halted new initiatives following the funding winter and layoffs season.

For FY22, Unacademy registered an 80.7% surge in its revenue to Rs 719 crore in FY22. Losses of the company increased at the same pace and spiked over 85% to Rs 2,848 crore as compared to Rs 1,537 crore in FY21. As per Munjal, the company has projected 26% growth in its revenue to Rs 1,250 crore for the ongoing calendar year or CY23.